Fears
by VictoriousAgain
Summary: What do fireworks, airplanes, elevators and the ocean have in common...? Absolutely nothing (if Jade had anything to say about it). Beck would beg to differ. / Some of Jade's fears and one of Beck's.


Beck was not afraid of anything (or so he claimed). Jade, however, seemed to have many hidden fears, and Beck guiltily basked in learning what they were. He shouldn't find them amusing, and by default, Jade adorable - but he did.

For instance, they had been dating for nearly a year, and Jade was spending the night again at his RV (as she had for the last two months) when Beck learns of one of Jade's fears. It was close to Midnight, and the couple had been cramped together, sleeping soundly in Beck's tiny bed when Beck had suddenly awoken to the sound of a loud bang coming from outside. He groggily moved to open his RV door, only to be greeted with the sight of an exploding shower of pink and green sparkles as a firework erupted in the night sky.

He smiles dazedly as he watches it. There must be some event happening close by (it was California, after all). It's rather beautiful, and as he glances over at Jade's sleeping form, he can't help but move to wake her so they can share this romantic moment together.

Unfortunately, Beck's idea doesn't quite go to plan. He gently nudges his sleeping girlfriend awake, his smile growing as she begins to stretch as her eyelids flutter open. "Beck? Wh-what's going on?" She asks through a yawn. Beck doesn't get a chance to answer her, for a loud explosion bursts from outside and Jade immediately leaps up in startlement. Her eyes widen just in time to see another firework shoot up into the sky, and as it makes another loud busting sound, Jade suddenly drops flat to the ground and rather coordinately, army rolls underneath his bed.

Beck blinks slowly, looking at the space Jade had previously been standing in before suddenly disappearing to the ground.

"Um, Jade."

"What?"

"Any particular reason you're under my bed?"

"No. Go away."

Beck runs a hand through his hair in bewilderment. Jade was known for being difficult at times, but even this was slightly ridiculous. If she didn't want to see the fireworks she could have just turned over and gone back to sleep. I mean, rolling under the bed was a bit dramatic even for her.

Beck looks torn, his eyes flickering between his bed and the RV door where he can just make out some of the bright lights exploding in the air. Man fireworks were magical.

"Um. Could you maybe shut your door?" A meek voice suddenly mumbles from the ground. Beck's eyebrows furrow and the unusual vulnerability of Jade's tone. Unsure about what was going on, he obediently moved to close his door, instantly muffling the bangs from outside. "You gonna tell me what's going on?" Beck calls out over his shoulder, amusement and bafflement laced in his tone.

"I just don't like fireworks, okay." Jade hisses from somewhere in the depths below his bed.

"You don't like fireworks?" Beck repeats slowly, a smirk taking over his features. Surely Jade was pulling his leg.

"They freak me out." Jade snarls, her voice still muffled.

Beck still thinks the whole situation is kind of funny, and as he lowers himself onto his hands and knees, he's once again momentarily struck by the levels to which he would stoop (literally) for this girl. "Hey." He grins when his face is eye level with the ground and he can finally see her again. Him amusement is quickly cut short when a louder bang from outside causes a squeak to erupt for Jade's lips and a gush of tears to suddenly trickle down her face.

Oh. _Oh_. So this was serious.

"Hey, it's okay." Beck attempts to sooth, immediately feeling guilty for assuming she was joshing around.

"Do you need me to, like, crawl in next to you?" He asks in genuine wonderment. Jade, his totally badass, no-nonsense, makes babies cry, girlfriend… is afraid of fireworks. He's not entirely sure how to handle this situation.

"Piss off." Jade snarls, but the viciousness of her voice is diluted by the sudden hiccup that escapes her mouth.

Beck fights off a smile. "I'm coming in." He announces. Jade goes to kick him as he scoots in beside her but like a total stud, he takes the pain in silence.

"Hey." He grins when his nose is inches away from hers.

"Go away." She weakly hisses, flinching again as a firework explodes from outside.

"Nuh. I think I'll stay."

True to his word, his scoots even closer to her, and though it's very uncomfortable in this cramped space, he somehow manages to sling an arm around her waist and roll her into his side. They remain like this for a while until the dust starts making Beck sniffle and he decides that it's time to get Jade out from under his bed.

It takes a lot of coaxing, but Beck finally manages to connive Jade to roll out. He kindly doesn't even comment on all the dust now trapped to her clothes as she flings herself into his bed and throws the blanket on top of her. Beck would have liked to take a few moments to appreciate just how truly adorkable Jade could be, but he was on a mission. He rummages for his earphones in his school bag and sets to work at untangling the knot they've predictably become. Once they're semi loose, he grabs his phone and flicks on his Miley Cyrus playlist. Jade will mock him mercilessly, but hopefully it would distract her from the sound of the fireworks which she clearly found quite distressing. Besides, it's hard to remain scared when '7 things' is blasting loudly in your ears. As he slips the buds into Jade's ears, he grins victoriously when she immediately snorts in laughter and reemerges from beneath his quilt to smirk appreciatively at her boyfriend who has now gotten into bed next to her.

"LOSER." She mouths, but two songs later when she's drifting off to the lyrics from "The Climb," she unintentionally mumbles "love you" into Beck chest. He thinks his heart might explode. Instead, a firework does outside. Yeah… life is pretty great.

* * *

Another time Beck learns of one of Jade's fears was when the gang left for their summer trip to Yerba.

Jade had been oddly silent since arriving at the airport, and though Beck's concerned, he tries not to dwell on it. She hadn't slept well the night prior and was probably just tired. He instead tries to tune into Tori who had been beaming all over the place as she ranted about how excited she was for this trip.

"I mean, there's not a whole lot of information on the internet about Yerba for some reason. It must be quite remote, but apparently there are many national parks and an amazing beach and -"

"Hey, Vega. Shut. Up." Jade finally snapped.

Tori's smile faltered slightly as her eyes finally tore away from Beck and she glanced towards Jade. "Grunch." Tori coughed, then turned to Andre and continued with her story.

"You okay?" Beck whispered into Jade's ear once Tori was distracted again. "You seem a little on edge."

"I'm fine." Jade immediately snapped.

Beck shook his head in bafflement, then went to put an arm around her shoulder. He knew she always relaxed into his touch.

Jade once again surprises him though. She shrugs him off and impatiently stands up. "I need space." She gripes, then yells for Cat to follow her as they move to a newsagency in the airport to look at some magazines.

"What's up with the Witch of the West?" Rex called from Robbie's lap. Robbie looked appalled and quickly glanced over towards Jade to make sure she hadn't overheard.

"I don't know," Beck replies slowly.

He's deep in thought, trying to piece together what was bothering his girlfriend. Even when she returned to sit next to him, he remained silent as he mentally went through everything that had happened to Jade in the last few days. It was only when they were walking up the steps into the airplane that it finally struck Beck. Cat was in front of them, buzzing with excitement as she swung an unimpressed Trina's hand back and forth as they moved. Jade was walking behind the pair, and her steps were notably slower and reluctant by comparison, almost like she didn't want to get on the plane.

Beck waits until they're seated to finally say something. Robbie had needed the aisle seat (he had a small bladder and insisted that he needed to get up every 10 minutes for the loo), and graciously Beck had ushered Jade to sit by the window.

Once her belt was on, he leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I know you're upset because we're not going to Cancun."

Jade blinks.

"What?"

Beck smiles at her softly, "You're upset, aren't you?" He replies, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Beck understood completely. He was upset too. He had been psyched to spend the Summer there surrounded by his family and (more importantly, in his opinion), his girlfriend. Apparently, however, when his relatives had heard that Beck would be bringing Jade along they had rallied against Beck's Aunt June who lived there and complained that Jade was not part of the family. They still held a grudge from one unfortunate family Thanksgiving at the Oliver's household where Jade's prayer had reduced the table to tears. Beck had thought it was funny… but apparently he was alone on that. Regardless, his Aunt June had contacted his parents saying that while he was more than welcome to come alone, Jade was not allowed. Beck had been pretty livid but calmly explained to his parents that he would not spend his summer apart from his girlfriend and that he would not be attending any future family events unless Jade was by his side. When he had explained the situation to Jade he had been surprised that she wasn't that angry. In fact, she seemed rather touched by Beck's actions which she expressed in a way that definitely would have scandalised his family if they found out… Regardless, Beck had truly thought Jade was okay with the situation. She must have just been hiding how hurt she was.

"I'm not upset about Cancun." Jade snorts, bringing Beck back into the present. "Idiot." She adds as an afterthought.

Beck slumps, then perks up again in interest, "So what's going on. Why are you moody? I mean, I know it's not your time of the month again cause that was definitely two weeks ago when you sent me out at 2am to find you chocolate and-"

"SHUT UP." Jade yelped, slapping her hands over Beck's mouth. "Oh my god. Don't talk about my menstrual cycle, you weirdo."

Robbie who had overheard only part of the conversation choked on thin air, and hastily made up some excuse about needing to speak with Tori before scampering off.

"So…" Beck prompts, pushing Jade's hands aside with a grin.

"It's just." Jade looked around wildly, checking to make sure no one was watching them. "It's just... I'm kind of... the thing is... I haven't really..." She closes her eyes as if fighting a deep internal struggle before blurting, "imscaredofflying." in one long breath.

"You're what?" Beck asked.

"I'm scared of flying," Jade repeats through gritted teeth.

Beck couldn't help it. His face breaks out into a large smile at Jade's adorably nervous expression. "Awww, my poor baby." He coos.

He finds it slightly less adorable when Jade punches him in the groin, but he still grins at her.

"Why didn't you say something before now?"

"It's fine. I'll get over it. It's just, I've only ever been on a plane one other time, and I was nervous back then, and then there was all this turbulence and it kind of freaked me out." She rambles. Jade did not ramble often. She really was afraid.

The seat belt sign flicked on and there was an announcement that they were about to commence take off. Robbie reluctantly sat back down in his seat, glancing at the couple fearfully, but Beck paid him no attention. Jade was his priority now.

He took Jade's hand in his own and scooted so he was as close to her as possible. "Close your eyes." He instructs. For once in her life, Jade obediently listens and buries her face in his shoulder, her eyes tightly shut. Her grip became deathly tight on his as the plane begins to move, but Beck's squeezes her back reassuringly. "Hey Jade, if went to Hogwarts, what house do you reckon you'd be in?" He whispers into her ear. His sole purpose is to distract Jade, and he's pretty proud of himself because Jade's grip instantly relaxes as she mutters, "I'm so obviously a Slytherin."

"Cause you're evil?" He teases.

"Oh my god, you ignorant _swine_. That is such a common misconception. Slytherins are frickin intelligent okay. So what, they know how to succeed and get what they want. That's more admirable than being a reckless hothead?"

Jade's rant about Hogwarts houses continues, and Beck fights off a rapidly growing smile as he nods along to her comments. He thinks he's pretty successfully distracted her when she doesn't even notice pulling away from his chest to face him directly as she drones on about how Dumbledore was a biased, selfish bastard. When Robbie chimes in mentioning the potential scandal of a Gryffindor dating a Slytherin (cause Beck was obviously a Gryffindor. Regardless what Jade thought, being brave and daring was some good chizz), Jade even smiles. Her smile grows when Robbie offers to send her some good Dramonie fics to read later.

By the time they land, Jade doesn't even look nervous anymore. Instead, she lightly kisses Beck's cheek and mutters in a rare moment of sweetness, "thanks for looking after me."

"Babe, I might as well be under the Imperius curse because I'd do anything for you." He tells her seriously, and even though Jade promptly calls him a dork, Beck recognises an "I love you" when he hears it.

* * *

Another thing Jade was scared of was elevators. She had expressed many, _many_ times her fear of being trapped in one and hence avoided them at all costs. It got to the point where Beck use to joke about not needing to go to the gym when he went out with Jade because she would make them walk up 20 flights of stirs rather than get in a lift.

Unfortunately, Beck had forgotten about this hidden phobia of Jade's after a few months of being separated from her. When the couple broke up (1 month and 9 days ago now… not that he was counting), Beck actively attempted to eradicate anything related to Jade from his mind. He was not very successful though, for nearly everything he saw reminded him of her.

Lockers. Oh, Jade has a locker.

Tissue. Jade got sick last month.

Shoe. He used to trip over Jade's boots all the time.

Okay. So maybe he wasn't trying as actively he thought he was, but still, this particular fact about Jade had slipped his mind. And regardless, though Beck spent 90% of this thinking time dwelling on Jade, the pair still hadn't been able to last longer than two minutes alone together.

This all changed the day of Cat's 18th birthday. She had organised a party on a rooftop bar that her uncle owned (though as she explained to a scandalised Tori, there would be no alcohol involved. Jade promptly spoke with Cat's brother who promised her that there would be). Still, no one was particularly keen dance along to music from the Waggafuffles and Sesame St.

However, the evening of her party Beck still found himself trudging his feet towards an elevator that would take him up the 23 levels to the roof. The doors were just beginning to close when a dark figure stomped inside, causing them to reopen again. Beck politely remained staring at the ground until he heard an all too familiar voice muttering,

"Fucking ridiculous. Who only allows a staircase to be used if there's a fire? We live in America. I have rights."

"You talking to yourself again," Beck notes, fighting off a smirk as Jade suddenly gasps, recognising who she was in an elevator alone with.

"Nope. No way." She quips and moves to walk back out the doors which have just announced that they were "closing."

"Come on. You seriously can't handle being alone with me for 20 seconds?" Beck sighs as Jade impatiently slams her finger repeatedly on the "door open" button.

"What can I say, your repulsing presence has that effect on me." She snips, stepping out.

"Jade, just get in." Beck groans. This was getting ridiculous. They were about to spend four hours at their mutual friend's birthday. How would they survive the night if they couldn't even handle being stuck together for less then a minute? "Are you that afraid of me?" he challenges.

He knows he's stuck a nerve when Jade's eyes narrow dangerously. Defiantly, she steps back into the lift, and before she can change her mind, Beck holds down the "close door" button. He silently wishes that she wasn't looking so incredible (she always looked stunning, but for Cat's birthday she'd really outdone herself). Her glare only makes her look sexier, and Beck had to restrain himself from slamming her against the doors and devouring her right there.

He's almost grateful when the lift suddenly lurches and comes to an abrupt stop because it successfully distracts him from his train of thought. Then he realises that the lift's broken down and that they definitely aren't at the roof yet. Maybe they shouldn't have pressed the buttons so many times.

"Fantastic," Beck groans, moving to push the emergency button. Being stuck in an elevator with an ex-partner was not ideal, especially an ex-partner who Beck was very attracted to.

Beck quickly holds his finger down on the help intercom, immensely relieved when someone picks up. "Hi there, what's the problem?"

"Hey, our lift is broken," Beck explains.

"Right. No worries. We'll have some fix it up in a jiffy. I'd say give it no more than 10 minutes and we'll have you out of there."

Beck wonders if he should add; "by the way, I'm trapped with my ex-girlfriend who I'm still really in love with so would you mind hurrying it up," but settles for simply thanking the technician with a sigh. Oh well. 10 minutes wasn't so bad. Jade hadn't even started yelling yet.

As soon as Beck has this thought he freezes, then whips around in worry as he finally recalls Jade's (potentially greatest) fear.

"Jade, how you holding up?" he asks in concern.

He then realises that the only reason she wasn't already screaming was because she was currently struggling to breathe. He immediately notices the shallow breaths escaping Jade's lips as she gasped for air, looking around frantically with terrified eyes.

"No. No no no no." Beck cries, dashing to her side. He'd seen Jade have a panic attack before and it was not pretty. She was undoubtedly freaking out, and Beck could feel a stab to his heart with each of Jade's chokes.

"Don't touch me." She wheezes, flinching away from his touch as he attempts to grasp her wrists. Another ragged gasp escapes her trembling frame, and she sinks down to her knees.

Beck ignores her and places his hand firmly on her shoulders. "Jade, I need you to breathe." He says slow and calmly.

"I can't. I can't." She coughs, her eyes still frantically scanning the small box they were trapped in.

"Yes, you can." Beck insists. Her eyes were flickering almost crazily, and Beck does the first thing he can think of to get her attention back on him. He kisses her. It's short and light, but it works. Jade freezes before looking at Beck widely, her eyes round with surprise. "Sorry." Beck apologises with a blush. His lips were still tingling from where they had touched hers, but he pushes his feelings aside to focus on her. "I needed your attention. Okay, Jade, I want you to count back from a hundred with me, can you do that?"

Jade jerks her head in what appears to be a stiff nod. Beck breathes a sigh of relief. "

"Good." Beck praises, moving his hand from her shoulders to clasp her hands. He gives them a tight squeeze of encouragement. "Let's start. 100, 99, 98…'

By the time they get to 30, Jade has calmed down enough to regain control of her breathing. She still looks stressed when she looks at the four walls trapping her, so Beck pulls her onto his lap and she buries her face in his neck, clasping her eyes shut tightly.

She places her focus on Beck's heart beat and allows her mind to become blank as Beck strokes her back of her hair. When the lift suddenly starts moving again, she doesn't even notice at first. It's only when the elevator reaches the roof and the doors open then Jade flings herself outside, stumbling directly into Andre.

"Whoa. You okay, girl?" Andre laughs, catching Jade's who's still slightly unsteady on her feet. His smile shrinks when he sees Beck's solemn expression as he steps out behind her.

"Jade, are you okay? Do you need to go home?" Beck enquires, ignoring Andre's questioning gaze.

"I'm – I'm fine." Jade stutters. "I'm fine." She repeats, a bit more authoritatively.

Beck still looks concerned but nods. He sends Andre off to fetch Jade some water and in the meanwhile takes her hand and guides her to a seat.

"You don't have to look after me. I'm seriously okay." Jade insists. "Go make yourself busy and flirt with Vega or something."

Beck ignores her and settles for placing a kiss to her temple. He wants to kiss her lips again, but he'll settle for what he can get.

Jade doesn't protest or push him away either. She looks at him with an equal amount of longing.

"I'm sorry. I forgot you were afraid of elevators." Beck finally apologises. "I should have known better." He bites.

Jade looks surprised, finally smirking with a knowing glint in her eye. "I think you know me, Beck." She tells him.

Beck doesn't learn the meaning behind her smirk until a month later, and he doesn't think he's ever been more grateful for a broken down elevator before.

* * *

"Why Beck, why are we here?" Jade repeats for the five BILLIONTH time that afternoon.

They were at the beach together, and for the very first time, they were alone. No Cat pestering Jade to make a sandcastle with her. No Robbie needing Beck's help to find his beach towel after he had somehow lost it on the crowded sand. No Tori trying to drag Jade into playing Volleyball, and No Andre trying to get Beck's help to pick up chicks.

Yes, finally it was just Beck and Jade alone. It was meant to be romantic, the couple spending time together at the beach. Of course, Beck had forgotten one key think about Jade. She hated nearly everything about the beach. She hated the sand. She hated the ocean. She hated sea creatures (especially dolphins for some strange reason), and she hated the screaming children and sunbathing mothers and disgruntled looking fathers with beer guts hanging out of outdated swimming trunks. All of which she had constantly reminded Beck of for the whole hour which they had been there.

"Because, babe, were having fun together on our first day of the Summer Holidays." Beck exhales.

"We are not having fun." Jade scowled. Her eyes were probably narrowing, but Beck couldn't tell under her large black sunnies she was currently wearing.

"Well, we might be if we went swimming, you know, seeing as we're at a beach and all." Beck emphasised. He'd been trying to convince Jade to step foot into the water but to no avail. She wouldn't even get her toes wet.

"I don't go swimming."

"I know, I know, bad dolphin experience in third grade." Beck sighs. "Look, sweetie, I'm pretty sure there are no dolphins out there right now."

"You see, _darling_ , your opinion matters very little to me and consequently that argument has no merit what so ever."

Beck pouts miserably as Jade rolls over on her towel. No matter what excuses Jade made up, he just couldn't understand why she wouldn't go into the ocean with him.

"How bout I make you a deal." Beck suddenly suggests, "I'll stop bugging you to go in the water if you tell me the real reason why you won't go in."

He thinks Jade's going to ignore him, but eventually she rolls back around, pulling off her sunnies to stare into her boyfriend's eyes.

"Fine." She snips.

Beck smiles triumphantly, before enthusiastically moving to sit cross-legged in front of her before she begins her story. When he's ready and looking at her eagerly, Jade lets out a low growl before beginning.

"My dumb parents dragged me on this stupid cruise with them in third grade. I think it was some desperate last attempt to salvage their marriage, fat load of good that did, but anyhow, we were meant to spend family time together. Of course, the second we got on the boat, mum was at the all-day cocktail lounge flirting with the waiters and dad was locked in the room trying to get work done. Anyway, they had these daily activities running, and I was, yunno, kind of hoping my parents might do one with me. Especially as I'd never taken swimming lessons before and mostly they were water-related things. Of course, after pestering my dad all night he agreed to do the swimming with Dolphins one with me and then never showed up the next day. So I decided to go by myself. They put us in a life vest so I thought I'd be fine, but once I was actually in the ocean, this frickin creature just came out of nowhere and attacked my leg."

Beck for the first time looks skeptically at Jade. Jade notices, then sighs,

"Okay, well it didn't attack me, but it brushed against my skin, and I started freaking out. Of course, then I was struck by the fact that I really didn't know how to swim, so I started freaking out and kicking water everywhere. Basically, I convinced myself I was drowning, and that dolphins were going to eat my corpse. A lifeguard had to come in and rescue me. It was so embarrassing. And then every night left on that frickin cruise I had a nightmare about drowning. So excuse me for not being thrilled by the prospect of getting into the liquid wasteland of toxins."

Beck finds the story sadder then he anticipated, and for a while, he doesn't know what to say. Jade was pointedly looking down at her wrist, avoiding Beck's pitying eyes.

"I'm sorry." He finally voices. "Your parents shouldn't have let you go in alone."

"Yeah, well, they were never going to win parents' of the year. No real surprises there." Jade replies statically.

Beck sighs again, and more of a habit then anything, brushes his hands through his hair. "I'm not going to force you or anything, but I still think it would be good if you tried to go in again. It might be therapeutic. And I'd be right with you. I wouldn't let you go."

"You say therapeutic; I say traumatic."

"You won't know unless you try." Beck shrugs.

Jade considers his words for a few minutes. There aren't many people left at the beach now, and Jade does feel eerily calm with Beck's presence beside her.

"Fine." She mutters, standing up quickly before she can change her mind. "But if you let go of me I'm going to cut all your hair off tonight."

"Deal." Beck beams, taking her hand tightly in his and guiding her to the water's edge. Jade looks increasingly nervous as the water rushes to the shore, wetting her toes. She takes a deep breath, then determinedly takes a few steps forward. Her grip tightens on Beck's hand, but they keep walking until their waist deep into the water. Jade's eyes were forcibly lifted to the sky, and only once they stop walking does she glance down. She instantly shudders and moves to put her arms around Beck's neck instead.

"Good job, baby." Beck praises.

Jade glares at him furiously. "Don't you placate me." She seethes, her grip tightening on his neck.

"Come on, babe, let's go a little deeper." Beck urges. He's low key expecting Jade to start shouting and demand to be taken back to shore, so he's pleasantly surprised when she nods, and together they begin inching a little further out.

Beck's very impressed. He's about a head taller than Jade so by the time they stop again, he's still managing to just stand on his tiptoes on the sand while Jade was wading to stay afloat. Beck pulls her closer so that she can wrap her legs around his waist and he smiles down at her happily.

"See, not so bad." Beck declares.

Jade reluctantly nods but then screams as a sudden wave appears and sweeps over them.

It's not that large of a wave, and Beck's still got a very firm grip on Jade, so he's not worried at all. By the time they come up for air, he's already laughing. Jade is not. She coughs and then spits into the water. Angrily she wipes away a bit of snot caused from the water that had rushed up her nose.

"So, so hot." Beck snickers.

"Shut it," Jade warns. "Have we done enough experimenting?"

"Sure." Beck easily agrees, and automatically begins swimming them back to the sand. Once they're on dry land again, he spins Jade around and places a firm kiss to her lips. He can taste the salt from the sea on her lips, but he doesn't really mind. "I am proud of you." He tells her seriously, "Conquering your fears and all."

"Proud enough to buy me some mocha ice-cream?" Jade asks innocently.

He is.

* * *

So there you had it. Jade had many fears (some more amusing than others), but as Sikowtiz had discovered, Beck had none.

That was until one seemingly ordinary Tuesday afternoon. Beck was in the middle of chemistry, already fantasising about what he would do on Friday (Jade had mentioned that he needed a haircut before people started thinking she was lesbian), when he's pulled from his daydream by the door slamming open and Tori Vega suddenly bursting into the room, screaming hysterically.

"Miss Vega, what is the meaning of this?" the teacher called out, but she was totally ignored.

"BECK, SOMETHING'S HAPPENED TO JADE." Tori screeches, panting heavily. "In-in the black box." She adds.

Beck's immediately out of his seat, racing to the black box theatre where he could already hear a commotion coming from. His heart rate picks up as fearfully he notes the crowd of medics in front of him. He slams open the door, and the sight he's met with almost makes him black out.

Jade was on a stretcher being wheeled to the exit. She was sickly pale, so white she almost looked dead. Beck thinks he might be sick. Horrified, Beck notes that Jade herself actually does have a bit of vomit on her shirt. He screams as he pushes to her side.

"GET OFF ME." He roars, as Lane attempts to pull him back. "JADE, JADE." He hollers, pushing to her side. Cat is openly sobbing in the background. Tori is attempting to soothe her while Andre and Robbie try and push the onlookers back. "What's happened?" He demands to know, but he's ignored by the medics who continue to move her to the waiting ambulance while calling out things to one another. One person announces, "She has a fever of 102 Fahrenheit." Beck struggles to breathe.

"Son, you can't come with us." A medic states, finally acknowledging Beck's presence.

Lane looks at Beck's rapidly growing furious expression and grabs the boy by the bicep. "Beck only one person is allowed, and it needs to be a staff member. Sikowitz will drive you now." He explains quickly, and before Beck can protest, Lane jumps onto the ambulance and they take off.

Beck's shaking so violently that Andre and Robbie need to steady him as they move towards Sikowtiz's van. Tori and Cat were already seated, looking equally alarmed.

"What happened?" Beck whispers.

"Jade was doing a presentation, and she got sick," Robbie explains.

"What do you mean she _got sick_?" Beck snaps, unintentionally far more vicious then intend. Robbie gulps. "I'm sorry." Beck quickly apologises. "I'm so confused. I'm so… I'm so scared. I don't understand what's going on."

"She just stopped talking suddenly and started holding her abdomen. Then she was screaming and ended up vomiting right onto the floor." Andre winces as he explains the situation. "By the time we got to her, she had passed out."

"She's been sick all day." Cat sniffed, then burst out again into loud tears. "It's my fault. I should have said something. She was in pain all morning. I even saw her sweating. Jade never sweats, but I didn't do anything. She said she was fine." Cat wails. Tori hastily hugs the small read head, muttering words of assurance. "What if she dies?" Cat sobs.

Beck's heart drops to his stomach. "Don't say that." He whispered coldly. "Don't you dare say that." He repeated, his eyes burning with anger.

"Calm down. You're not making this any better." Tori commanded sensing Beck's fury. He had never felt so irrational before but he felt like his mind was about to explode. He still hasn't managed to calm down by the time they arrive at the hospital. "WHERE IS SHE?" He screams the second they spot Lane.

Lane frowns deeply at Beck before calmly explaining, "She's in surgery, but she's going to be okay."

How could she be okay if she was in surgery? Nothing was okay. Everything was terribly and horrifically WRONG.

"Surgery? Why?" Robbie gasps.

"It appears she has a ruptured appendix. They're removing it now."

"Damn." Andre curses.

Sikowtiz rests a hand on Beck's shoulder. "Why don't you go sit down." He says kindly yet firmly. "You won't be able to see her for another hour or so."

"I need to be with her." Beck insists shakily, still unable to think rationally.

"Soon." Sikowitz promises, placing both hands firmly on Beck's shoulder and directing him to a seat. Everyone else moves to sit down around him.

Everyone goes silent then, the only disruption occurring when Jade's mum burst into the waiting room, shortly followed by Jade's father. To Beck's surprise, Jade's mum lurches herself into her ex-husband's arms when she spots him and begins to cry.

"Now, Sarah, it's okay. It's standard procedure." David West assured. His usual confidence was lacking though and Beck thought he seemed rather paler than usual.

Nearly 30 minutes later the doctor arrived to state that Jade was now awake and everything was fine. There was a collective sigh of relief, and Beck had to push back tears of gratitude. He wouldn't be able to breathe properly until he got to see her though, and when Lane suggests that her parents go in to see her first, Beck has to bite his tongue from arguing. Now was not the time to cause more upheaval.

He waits patiently for another 10 minutes. Cat was at this point was buzzing with energy, squeezing Robbie's hand and constantly asking when she could go in. When Jade's parents remerge, they make a short comment that Jade was well but tired and mention that they needed to go speak with the Doctors now. Beck doesn't care. He leaps up out of his seat and rounds on his friends.

"Can I see her alone first?" he asks his friends as they all stand up. Cat looks like she wants to complain, but is silenced when Andre shoots her a sharp look.

"Of course." Tori nods.

Beck managed to smile briefly before tensing as he strode to Jade's hospital room. He has to inhale deeply, soaking up the courage to open the door, but is immediately relieved the second Jade's blue eyes come into sight.

"Hey." Jade grimaces, making a face as Beck stands frozen gazing at her, his jaw stiff and eyes wide.

She still looked sickly pale, but she was conscious, and that was the main thing. Beck doesn't think he can find any words to express his relief as he jerkily moves to sit beside her. With trembling hands, he takes her own and then buries his face in her chest.

"Jesus, Jade. Don't you ever do that to me again." He murmurs shakily.

He can't see Jade's face, but he can hear her soft chuckle as she goes to stroke his hair with her free hand.

"I'll try not to." She hums. Beck finally looks up at her face. She seemed relaxed but winced a little as she shifted into a more upright seated position. Beck carefully moved to hug her. "Were you scared?" She teases.

Beck doesn't laugh though. He looks at her seriously dead on in the eyes. "I was terrified. I thought I might die." He tells her.

Jade looks taken aback, before gently cupping his face with her hands, "Dude, don't be dramatic. I'm fine."

"Now you are." Beck sighs, resting his forehead against hers. "But Jade, you have no idea how bad you looked. I don't mean it like that" he added, as Jade leaned back to shoot him an offended look. "It was so scary, Jade. I seriously thought I had lost you."

"Well, who would've thought, Beck Oliver is not totally unscareable."

Beck pauses for a second, then shrugs. "You got me." He admits.

"You know," Jade murmurs, "that's pretty hot."

"Oh yeah." Beck breathes, scooting a little closer to Jade, his eyes narrowing in on her lips.

Their intimate moment is sadly ruined though before anything can even start, for the door slams open and a flash of red zips to Jade's side.

"WHERE'S MY JADEY?" Cat screams, and then with surprising strength, rips Beck off the bed and throws him to the ground. "PLEASE DON'T DIE JADE. WHO ELSE IS GOING TO MAKE CUPCAKES WITH ME?"

And as Beck groans, rubbing the back of his head which had hit the ground, he thinks that maybe it's okay that he gets afraid sometimes too. After all, he always knew Jade was going to be his downfall. It's okay though. She is pretty awesome, and if anyone's going to make him scared, it might as well be the person he loved.

* * *

 **/**

 **I am smack bang right in the middle of un university exams.**

 **This is a product of procrastination and insomnia. Sorry for any spelling errors. I'll go read and edit it later when I get my life back. :p**

 **As per usual, PLEASE make my day and leave a review if you enjoyed (believe me, I could really do with a smile right now).**

 **And go watch Dynasty. ;)**


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